my ethernet cable?

I would also suggest taking a look at your network switch/router. Many sold are still 10/100 and if you want maximum network speed with the Auralic you would need a gigabit switch. The sonos only has a 10/100 port on it, so no big deal.

Cat5e and Cat6 can both handle gigabit if installed correctly. Cat6 installed incorrectly (or patch cable manufactured incorrectly) can be worse than a good job with cat5e, so who installs it is almost more important than which cable you choose.

Al's proposal for testing is exactly what I do for my home installs. When I paid professionals to do it for work, part of their deliverables were the test reports.

Also, a last bit of advice for anyone else doing this is to run an extra cable or two. You never know when you may need it. I only ran two to my living room and am kicking myself. You could imagine a tv, home theater, xbox, dvd player, and sonos all needing an Ethernet connection. You could always put another network switch in the living room, but then you are splitting your gigabit home run amongst all of those items, not to mention eating up one more electrical outlet. Best case scenario is that only one is actually doing any serious transfer of data at once, but you've still added one more item in between your source and destination.

Thanks, Kriskdf.

Will the router say 10/100 on it? And what is the designation for a router that is adequate for gigabit?

If I did this --keeping in mind Al's reservations!--how do I go about finding a good cable installer? Obviously the guy who did the TV didn't exactly know what he was doing (because he connected Cat 6 cable to Cat 5e jack. Sigh.)

As for the extra cable, so just having something there unconnected does not affect the functioning of the lines to stereo, tv etc?

Thanks!

Margot

I replaced a 75' run of cheap Monoprice Cat6 that goes from my office router, down into the basement, and up into the living room stereo system with a 50' run of Blue Jeans 6a for the purpose of getting the most out of my TIDAL subscription.

The difference was very easy to detect. I'd describe the sound as cleaner, purer, and better-defined.
01-14-15: Cymbop

I believe you when you say you could hear the difference between the two cables. Blue Jeans' uses Belden cable a highly respected data cable manufacture, Monoprice doesn't say whose cable they use. They just say it is pure stranded copper. The construction of the raw cable can make a difference how the cable will perform.

I would discount the differences in length of the two had anything to do with the reason why you heard a difference, but I would like to know what you did with the additional 25' of the 75' Monoprice cable. Just guessing you coiled up the excess 25' of cable at the switch end. If that is the case, the next question would be how tight, rough physical diameter of the coil of the wire? I have found, and don't know why, that can cause errors on a PC connected to a network in the case of horizontal installed LAN cable. Testing the cable that has the excess cable coiled up in a small diameter coil with a scanner might only pass marginally. Increasing the diameter of the coil would increase the test results of the cable.

Best practices say two data cables should be installed at every work station. If you were to compare the certification test reports of a work station’s two data cables that were installed at the same time, same cable manufacture, terminated on the jacks on both ends by the same person, the cables will not test out the same. One will test better than the other. And sometimes the differences can be quite a lot with both cables still passing the scanner test.
.

Margot,

IF, you have problems and it turns out to be the cable you had installed, you could always just buy a readymade to order cable from Blue Jeans Cable and you or someone help you install it, providing the majority of the pathway is not concealed making it difficult for you to install the cable. If you do install the cable yourself be careful and protect the RJ45 plug on the end that is being installed, pulled, to the desired location. Be careful do not kink the cable. Do not step or walk on the cable as this can damage the lay of the 4 twisted pairs inside the jacket of the cable.

Pros of the premade Blue Jeans' cable?
You can save a lot of money.
You won't need additional patch cords, also eliminating two more connections.

Down side?

Physical damage to the cable at either end and or the RJ45 plug. When jacks are used on each end of a physically protected installed cable, patch cords that plug into the jacks can easily be replaced.

01-17-15: Mcanaday
Will the router say 10/100 on it? And what is the designation for a router that is adequate for gigabit?

10/100/1000 is a common designation for a router capable of gigabit speeds (i.e., 1000 megabits per second). If there is no indication on the router as to whether it is a 10/100 or 10/100/1000 type, Googling its make and model number plus the word "specifications" should lead you to the answer.

100 mbps is plenty for audio purposes, though. And if the router is 10/100 you can always upgrade it at a later time if gigabit speeds become desirable for other reasons.

BTW, I would not rule out the possibility that there could be at least slight sonic differences between interfacing to the Auralic at 100 mbps and at 1000 mbps, due to differences in coupling of digital noise to points in the system that are downstream of the ethernet interface. But if so, I doubt that which speed would be better in that respect can be predicted.

As for the extra cable, so just having something there unconnected does not affect the functioning of the lines to stereo, tv etc?

I'd be very surprised if having an unused cable connected to its own port on the router or network switch would have any effect on the others. Even if it did, though, perhaps as a consequence of poor design of the router or network switch, you could of course simply disconnect it.

Best,
-- Al